Newspaper-vending machine



V. A. SCOTT Feb. 24, 1931.

NEWSPAPER VENDING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Jun 5, 1928 INVENTOR IATTORNEY Feb. 24, 1931. v. A. SCOTT NEWSPAPER VENDING MACHINE 2Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 5, 1928 I N VENTO R 7m fmwow B Y fij l 30prevent, to

Patented Feb. 24, 1931 marten srarss ice NEWSPA?EBVENBING MACHINEApplication filed June 5, 1828. Serial No. 282,933.

This invention relates to a machine for delivering newspapers and thelike, as described in the present specification and illustrated in theaccompanying drawings which form part of same.

The invention consists essentially of the novel features pointed outbroadly and specifically in the claims for novelty following adescription containing'an explanation in detai of an acceptable form ofthe inven tion.

For the sake of expediency and public convonience, newspapers are nowlargely sold from open containers orboxes which are placed upon thepublic highways and left unattend d, the vendor depending entirely uponthe honour and honesty of the purchasers for his cash returns; it iswell known that the returns fall far short of the sum representedby thenumber of newspapers removed from the box, thus resulting in anappreciable pecuniary loss. The newspapers, moreover, are exposed to theelements and on exceptionally rainy days are often completely soaked andspoiled, to the inconvenience and disappointment of both purchaser andvendor.

The objects of the invention, therefore, are to build an efficientmachine that will great extent, pecuniary loss to the vendor and shieldthe newspapers from dust, rain. snow and sleet; to construct such adevice so that it may, if desired, provide spa e for advertising matter;to reduce the size of such a machine; and enerally, to improve upon themachine shown in applications for patents of the United States ofAmerica, filed as Serial Nos. 192,922 and 253,110. r

The mechanism for moving the newspapers and for closing the coin slotis'ordinarily locked and must be released by the insertion of a coinwhich operates a certain releasing mechanism and a suitable constructionfor this purpose has been described in a copending application filedunder Serial No. 230,001 and is only concerned incidentally in thisinvention which is primarily operated by the lever which is normallylocked.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is perspective view of the device complete.

Figure 2 is an end elevational view of Figure 1. 7

Figure 3 is ahorizontal section view taken on lines 33'in Figure 2.

-Figure 4 is a'vertical section view taken on lines 4-4 in Figure 3,with parts broken away.

Figur 5 is a vertical sectiona-l'view taken on lines '55 in Figure 3.

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken onlines 66 in Figure 3.

Like numerals of reference indicate corresponding parts in the variousfigures.

Referring to the drawings,t 1e numeral 10 designates the devicecomplete. 11 is a suitable housing or casing having the side walls 11Aand 11B and the end walls 116 and 11D, and the base or floor 11E. in theend 11C is a slot or opening 12 through which the newspapers are ejectedand having the flanges 13 extending" a distance on either side of theopening and protecting said opening from the Weather. 15 is the cover orlid of said casing, hinged as at 16 and having a suitable locking device17. 18 is a handle or crank rigidly mounted on the shaft 19 which isjournalled in suitable bearings secured to the side wall 11A. The shaft19 extends through the side wall 11A and serves as the main drivingshaft for all the mechanisms involved in this invention. 20 is the coinslot or opening formed in the side 11A and into which thecoins areinserted to release the coin-controlled operating mechanism.

The main driving shaft 19 extends through the coin-controlled operatingmechanism se cured to the inner face of the side wall 11A and has acircular wheel 23 rigidly mounted thereon and spaced a distance from thecoincontrolled mechanism 21.

A crank pin 25 is secured on said wheel 23 and at a distance from thecentral axis and extends from tiie side 26 furthest from the side wall11A. The crank pin 25'is reciprocally mounted in the vertical slot 27 inthe ejecting member 28. The ejecting member 28 has prongs or fingers 29carrying needle points 30 and formed on the side of the slot 27 adjacentthe end of the casing and bent as at 31 to extend away fromthe side 26of the wheel 23. The other end of the ejecting member 28 is pivotallymounted as at 32 in the cross head 33 reciprocally mounted in the crosshead guides 34. The cross head guides 34 are supported by and secured tothe bracket 35. An elongated slot 38 is formed midway in the member 28and along the medial line thereof. A pin 39 parallel with the base 11Eand substantially normal to the side wall 11A and supported by thebracket 40 s"- cured to the side wall 11A, extends through and isreciprocally mounted in the slot 38 and supports the member 28 in aposition substantially parallel with the base 11E.

A cam 42 is formed on the wheel 23 on the side 26A adjacent the sidewall 11A. A rocker arm or bell crank 43 is situated in the same plane asthe pin 39 and carries the roller 44 rotatably mounted as at 43A andadapted to bear on the cam 42 and is ri 'idly mounted. in the uprightshaft 45 journalled in the brackets 46 and 47. On the other end of thebell crank 43 as at 43B is a fork portion straddling the pin 39. Acompression spring 48 encircles the pin 39 and is adapted to bearagainst the fork portion 43B and against the ejecting member 28. Atensionspring 49 has one end secured to the side wall 11A as at 50 andtl eother end secured to the member 28 as at 50A.

In order to elfectively seal the slot or opening 12 against the weatherand to prevent forcing the newspapers through said slot when the coinlock is not properly operated, a gate 51 secured to the upright shaft 52pivotally mounted at its upper end in the bracket 53 and at itslower endin the bracket 54. is adapted to swing across the opening 12 andeffectively close said opening when the newspapers are not to bedelivered. The gate 51 is made substantially as shown in Figures 3 and 4and has the straight side wall 51A which will be presented towards theside of the newspaper when same is being ejected from the opening andforms a guide for said newspaper. The side wall 513 presented to theopening 12 is curved substantially in the form of an arc with the centreat 52. In order to swing the gate 51 to clear the opening 12, a crankarm 55 is rigidly mounted to the shaft 45 and adjacent the lower end. Asecond crank 56 is rigidly mounted'to the shaft 52 and adjacent thelower end of said shaft.

L connecting rod 57 is pivotally conn cted to the ends of the crank arms55 and 56, as at 59 and 58, respectively.

The rack or magazine in which the papers are stored is formed betweenthe substantially vertical plate 60 on one side and the resilient metalstrips 61 and 61A on the other, and is parallel with the side walls 11Aand 1113, respectively.

The papers rest on the magazine floor plate 62 spaced a distance fromthe base plate 11E and parallel therewith. The resilient metal strips 61and 61A are secured to the wall 110 substantially as shown in Figure 3and having the other end free. The plate 60 is pivotally carried by twoupwardly extending arms 65 pivoted to said plate as at 66. The pivotalpoint 66 is spaced adjacent the lower portion of the plate. The reasonfor this is to bring a greater pressure to bear against the foldedportion of the newspaper which rests on the plate 62, as this is thethickest part of the newspaper. The bracket 65 is carried on a bar 67reciprocally mounted on the underside of the plate 62 between said plateant the bar 68 spaced from and secured to said plate as at 68A, andprojects through slots 65A formed in the plate 62. The newspaper to beejected from the opening 12 bears against the resilient bars 61 and 61A,and as the newspapers are ejected through the opening, the remainingnewspapers are brought up to take the place of the ejected paper bymeans of the plate 60 bearing against the last newspaper to be ejected.Cables 69 are secured to the bracket 65 a slight distance above the bar67 and are led over pulleys 70 and wound on a drum 71. As the newspapersare ejected, the drum 71 is rotated to draw on the cables 69 and bringthe remaining papers into the proper position for ejection. The drum 71is rigidly mounted on a shaft 72 journalled in the brackets 73. Aratchet gear 74 is rigidly mounted on said shaft 72.

An oscillating arm 75 pivotally mounted on the shaft 72 is actuated bythe connecting rod 76 pivotally connected to said shaft 75 as at 75A atone end and pivotally mounted on the crank pin 25 at the other. Aratchet dog 77 is pivotally mounted adjacent the mid-section of theshaft 75. As the shaft 75 oscillates when the shaft 19 is rotated, theratchet dog 77 engages in the ratchet 74 and rotates same in ananti-clockwise direction, thereby rotating the drum 71. In order toprevent rotation of the drum 71 when the papers are brought into theproperposition for ejection, a device for disengaging the dog 77 fromthe ratchet 74 is provided. This consists of a bar 78 pivotally mountedin the bracket 7 9 having an arcual slot 80. A pin or projection 81 isformed on the dog 77 and adapted to reciprocate in the arcual slot 80.WVhen suflicient pressure is exerted on the papers by the plate 60, theresilient arm 61 bears against the crank 82 rigidly mounted on the shaft83 journalled in the bracket 84 and the crank 85, thus actuating theconnecting rod 86 pivoted to said crank as at 86A and at the end of thebar 78 as at 863 to lift said bar away from the ratchet gear 74 and thuscarry the ratchet dog 77 away from said gear 7 4,and the arm 75 mayoscillate without rotating the drum 71. In order to retain the tensionon the cable 69, a ratchet dog 90v pivoted on the arm 91 engages theteeth on the ratchet 74 and prevents said gear from rotating in anopposite direction. The arm 91 is rigidly mounted on a shaft 92journalled in the brackets 93. Itigidly mounted on said shaft 92 is ahandle or arm 95. A tensioned spring 96 secured at one end to the arm 95midway of its length and at the other end to the side wall 11A. tends toretain said arm in its normal position, and likewise the arm 91 carryingthe ratchet dog 90.

97 is a bar pivotally mounted to the bar 7 6 as at 98 and reciprocallymounted through the bracket 99 extends downwardly from said bar 78. Afinger or arm 100 is rigidly mounted to the shaft 92 and is adapted tobear against the end of the bar 97 when the shaft 92 is sufficientlyrotated in a clockwise direction.

An extension or lug 91A is formed on the arm 91 and adapted to bearagainst the ratchet dog and limit its rotation in an anti-clockwisedirection. In order to release the ratchets 77 and 90 from the ratchetgear 7 1 to allow the cable 69 to be unwound from the drum 71, the armis depressed, thus drawing the arm 91 carrying the ratchet 90 away fromthe ratchet gear 7 1. At the same time, the finger carried on the shaft92 bears against the bar 97 and lifts the bar 78, thus lifting theratchet dog 77 away from the gear 7s. The drum 71 is now free to rotate,

In order to draw the plate 60 back to its initial position. a tensionedspring has cables 106 attached to either end, said cables being led overpulleys 107 and attached to the bar 67 as at 108. As the plate 60 isdrawn towards the resilient arms 61 and 61A by the cable 96,considerable tension is exerted on the spring 105. On releasing the dogs77 and 90 from the ratchet 7 4, the tensioned spring 105 contracts anddraws the bar 67 'arrying the brackets 65 back to i s starting position.In order to effectively seal the coin slot after all the papers havebeen withdrawn from the machine, a bar 110 pivoted in the bracket 111 isadapted to swing into the path of the coins in the coin slot adjacentthe opening 20 and thus prevent the coins from being inserted inthe coin slot.

The bar 110 is actuated by a rod 112 reciprocally mounted in the bracket111 extending inwardly and adapted to bear against the side of the paperwhich is to be ejected. \Vhen all of the papers are ejected, the bar 112is adapted to pass through an opening 11% in the plate 61 to pivot thebar 110 into the path of the coins in the coin slot. A roller 114A maybe mounted on the end of the bar 112 to prevent said bar from binding orretarding the passage of the papers into the slot or opening 11%. Atension spring 115 secured at one end to the bracket 11 and at the otherend to the bar 110, tends to retain the locking bar 110 normally in itsclosed position. 1 In order to prevent the gate 51 from being swung intoits open position when the coin operating mechanism is not properlyunlocked, a locking bar 116 is adapted to bear against the back of thecrank arm 55. The bar 116 is pivoted in the bracket 117 and a tensionedspring 118 is adapted to act on the bar 116 to retain it normally in itslocking position. A bell crank 119 is pivoted in the bracket 117 as at117A. One end of the bell crank carries a roller 120 adapted to'bear onthe cam 41 2, and the other end of the bell crank bears on the upperedge of the locking bar 116, as at 121. The roller 120 is adapted to beraised by the ca n 42 before said cam actuates the rocking arm 13. Asthe roller 120 is raised, the other end of the bell crank 121 depressesthe locking bar 116 and allows the crank arm 55 to rotate in a clockwisedirection when the shaft 15 is rotated by the bell crank 13.

In the operation of this invention, in filling the magazine withnewspapers, the lever 95 is depressed until the ratchet dogs 77 90disengage from the ratchet gear 7%, thus allowing the tensioned spring105 acting on the cables 106 to draw the plate 60 back to its startingposition. The papers are then inserted in the space between the late 60and the resilient bars 61 and 61A and the folded edge of the papers areinserted first, so that they will rest on the plate 62 Sufdcientpressure is now exerted on the papers by the plate 60 by oscillating thelever 95 to rotate the ratchet gear and the drum 71 by bringing theratchet dog 90 to bear against said ratchet gear 7 1-. The machine isnew charged and ready for delivering papers.

The first paper to be ejected against the roller 11 1 and reciprocate.od 112 in the bracket 111 to pivot ch out of its locked position in thecoin slo coins may now be inserted to unlotk tn ating mechanism. Thecrank or hanr It) may now be actuated to rotate the shaft 19, thusdriving the crank pin 25 which reciprocatcs in the slot 27 in theejecting member 28. The cam 42 bears first against the roller 120 torelease the locking bar 116 from the crank arm 55. The cam then liftsthe roller 10 to actuate the bell crank 13, thus bringing pressure onthe spring 48. This forces the e'ecting fingers 29 carryingthe needlepoints 30 towards the pap er so that the needle points 30 will engagewith the paner and it towards the slot 12. As the pa'ner is carriedforward by the ejecti g arm, the crank arm 55 on the shaft 45 acts onthe crank arm 56 through the connecting rod 57 to swing the gate 51clear of the'o'pening 12 and allows for the paper to be ejected throughsaid opening by the ejecting arm 28 being carried forward on the crankpin 25.

At the same time, the arm 7 5 is oscillated by the connecting rod 76being carried at one e ba ice

su'ficient pressure is brought to b ar on the papers by the plate 60,the resilient bar (31 bears ti -inst the crank 82 to rotate the so t 83carr the crank 85, thus ra di i connecting rod which in turn raises thebar 78 and the ratchet 77 so that no further tension will be exerted onthe cables 69 until it is necessary. As the shaft 19 completes therevolution, the different working parts are brought back to their normalstarting position ready for the coins to be inserted and for thereleasable locl ing mechanism to eject the next paper.

hat I claim is:

1. In a machine for delivering newspapers and the like a magazine havingresilient gripping members and a vertical ejection slot at one end andadjacent said resilient gripping members, a second grippii memberdistanced from said resilient gripping members and adapted to be drawntowards s members from an initial starting position distant from saidmembers to a final position adjacent said gripping members. a closurefor said slot, an ejecting finger adjacent said resilient grippingmembers and adapted to be forced towards said newspaper and to engagethe nearest paper thereto and progress same through said ejection slot,and means for opening said closure before said ejection fingers operateto progress said paper through said slot.

2. A newspaper vending machine comprising a casing having a verticalslot and a magazine supporting the newspapers in an upright position, awheel journalled in said casing and operated by a crank lever andcontrolling a cam mechanism having operating means for opening andclosing the slot coincidently with an ejecting mechanism controlled bythe movement of said wheel.

3. A newspaper vending machine comprising a casing having a verticalslot and a magazine supporting the newspapers in an upright position,said magazine being formed of a fixed plate supporting the papers andhaving a movable plate engaging therewith and operable coincidently withthe movement of a wheel ournalled in said casing and operated by a cranklever and controlling a cam mechanism having operating means for openingand closing the slot coincident-1y with an ejecting mechanism controlledby the movement of said wheel.

4. A newspaper vending machine comprising a casing having a verticalslot and a magazine supporting the newspapers in an upright position,said magazine having a fixed plate forming the newspapersupport and amovable plate having resilient metal strips, said movable plate beingpivotally secured to a pair of projecting arms engaging at their lowerends with transverse slots formed in said fixed plate and forming apressure on the movable plate against the newspapers and on the otherside resilient metal strips secured at one end to an end wall of thecasing and having their other end engaging with the newspapers, saidmovable plate being operable coincidently with the movable wheel journa-lled in said casing and operated by a cam mechanism havingoperating means for opening and closing a slot coincidently with anejecting mechanism controlled by the movement of said wheel.

5. A newspaper vending machine comprising a casing having a verticalslot and a magazine supporting the newspapers in an upright position,said magazine being formed of a fixed plate supporting the papers andhaving a movable plate engaging therewith and operable coincidently withthe movement of a wheel j ournalled in said casing and operated by acrank lever, operating means for opening and closing the slotcoincidently with an ejecting mechanism havingfingers engaging eachpaper in succession and progressing it through the slot and controlledby the movement of said wheel.

6. A newspaper vending machine comprising a casing having a verticalslot and a magazine supporting the newspapers in an upright position, afixed plate forming a part of the magazine and supporting the ends ofthe newspapers and a movable plate abutting one side of the newspapersand pivotally secured by projecting arms extending through the fixedplate and operated by cables controlled by a crank mechanism to draw themovable plate from an initial starting position ,to a final positionadjacent a pair 01 resilient bars adapted to engage the other sides ofthe newspapers and fixedly secured at one end to one of the casingwalls, said crank mechanism being operated by a crank lever controllinga cam mechanism having operating means for opening and closing the slotcoincidently with an ejecting mechanism controlled by the movement ofsaid cam mechanism.

Signed at the city of Toronto, this 28th day of May, 1928.

VERNON ALBERT SCOTT.

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